Painting Something Beautiful

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

Tristan Tzara 1896-1963, Rumanian-born French Dadaist

Ex 36:1-2
"Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the LORD has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded." Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it. NASU

Our culture is always looking for something new in which to place hope. We know instinctively that there is something required of us and it is for each of us to discover the mystery of what it is we were made to be. Dadaism was a cultural movement that rejected the understanding of present day art and sought out a new way to understand man and his artistic expressions.

Artists are forever trying to find something new to catch our eye, after all it will also catch someone’s pocketbook and provide for them substance to continue what they love to do. Tristan Tzara, was one of the leaders of the Dadaist movement. Did you catch what type of works Tristan said was needed to replace the current artistic leanings of today? He said, “We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.”

Now where would things like that come from? If the works are beyond us, then they certainly cannot begin in us. That means that which is clear and beautiful and touches us best comes from somewhere else, and I think that I know where that is. I think that I can glean from Exodus that a clear understanding and the skill to express it, comes from the Lord. Then man is stirred in his heart to express in some way, his gratefulness to his eternal God, and that, is where glorious art begins…God Bless.

Pastor William